We took in all the "must see's": Shedd Aquarium, Field Museum, the top of the Hancock building, Navy Pier, and of course, the walking tour of the lake shore parks and all those unique sights.
The USMNT was to meet Honduras for their home hexagonal match, trying to rebound on the 65th anniversary of D-Day, following a difficult loss at Costa Rica three days earlier. The horrid artificial surface at Sparissa in that loss was a major contributing factor, and one can only speculate on the logic in allowing a critical WC qualifier to be played there. Nonetheless, the US had to bounce back in Chicago, where the home team was fighting off another kind of invasion, as Honduran fans poured into Soldier Field from every corner of the country, making the venue much more blue and white, than red, with a total of almost 56,000 fans pouring through the venue's historic gates.
Coupled with that disappointing palette, was the absence of rock-solid midfielder Michael Bradley, who was sitting a yellow-card suspension from the Costa Rica match. Things did not get any better
when Honduras took an early lead in the fifth minute on a Carlos Costly goal. The troubling tendency to concede the lead early seemed to shake the US into action, and from that point, the home team began to control the match.
A couple of near misses, most notably by forward Conor Casey, who slipped just as he was getting ready to slot home a Jonathan Spector cross off the right flank. More solid play, and half chances came the US's way, but took until the 43rd minute, when a deep probing ball off the foot of defender Oguchi Onyewu, seeking forward Jozy Altidore, was handled by a Honduran defender in the penalty area. American engineer Landon Donovan coolly slotted the spot kick home, and the match was knotted at half.
The match was at the midway point of the second half, when Donovan attacked the left side, driving a far post ball to fellow midfielder Clint Dempsey. The Fulham (via Nacogdoches, Texas, and Furman University) ace rose above his marking defender, heading the ball down, and back across the face of the goal, where Carlos Bocanegra's diving header finished its flight into the back of the visitors' net.
From that point, the match's intensity increased, as Honduras took every chance to dispossess any American on the ball. Several excellent opportunities came the visitors' way, but in the end, the tiniest touch here, or a last-minute clearance there, proved to be the difference between three points and one for the home side.
Following the match, the US boarded a plane to South Africa for the 2009 Confederations Cup, an honor they had earned by virtue of their last previous come-from-behind win, this one over Mexico in the final of the 2007 Gold Cup. The venue? You guessed it: Soldier Field. The Win(dy) City.
Copyright 2010. All contents of this blog, written and photographic, are protected from unauthorized use and reproduction by any means, with All Right Reserved by Perry McIntyre, Atlanta, GA
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